England require just one point from their last two Women’s World Cup qualifiers to reach next year’s finals in Canada after early goals by Casey Stoney and Eniola Aluko secured victory in Ukraine.

Intriguingly it is Wales, who while England were winning in Lviv were beating Belarus 3-0 in Minsk through a Natasha Harding hat-trick, who stand in the way of Mark Sampson’s team.

The home nations are set to meet in Wales in August and Sampson will be wary in particular of the striker Harding, whom he managed at Bristol Academy before he took over as England’s head coach in December.

Wales, who are five points behind the group leaders England and also have two matches remaining, were beaten 2-0 in the reverse fixture. But Sampson said: “Wales have got the talent and ability to cause us problems and we will have to be at our best to get the result we want.

“The game will be as difficult as this one against Ukraine. In the first half we played really well, created chances and might have got more than two goals. In the second half they put us on the back foot at times, but apart from the goal they scored they never really threatened. The most important thing was the result, and I’m delighted we’ve got the win that’s taken us so close to qualifying. Now we’ve got two matches to get the one point we need – but we’ll be going for six.”

The former captain Stoney, making her first start under Sampson, headed the 11th-minute opener from a corner by Fara Williams, the Liverpool midfielder whose appearance saw her equal the Arsenal winger Rachel Yankey’s record of 129 international caps.

Three minutes later the Chelsea striker Aluko tapped the ball over the line from a couple of inches to record her ninth goal of the qualifying campaign. Few openings were created thereafter by England, and Ukraine, after plenty of possession but with little threat, reduced the arrears when the left winger Olha Ovdiychuk converted the midfielder Lyudmyla Pekur’s 63rd-minute corner. It was the first goal conceded by England in their eight group matches to date.